When I tell people our family of four sometimes consumes 6 gallons of raw milk a week, I usually get laughed at. And then follows the actual question of “How CAN you go through so much milk?!”. Let’s think about the average family of four and how much milk or milk products they consume for […]

Although cold weather isn’t quite behind us, Spring has definitely arrived. The flowers are just beginning to wake from their long slumber and emerge reborn from their earthy graves. Pretty soon we’ll be surrounded by gorgeous shades of pink, white, yellow, orange, purple, and everything in between. My absolute favorite part of Spring is finding […]

I remember the first time I tried a lacto-fermented pickle: A quart mason jar with cucumbers, peppercorns, a garlic clove or two, and some assorted spices was handed to me. I have always loved pickles, so I eagerly selected and bit into one. The flavor was unlike anything I had ever experienced – garlicky, tangy, […]

Knowing how to can chicken on the bone comes in really handy when you butcher your own chickens or when chicken legs or thighs go on sale at the store. I’ll be canning chicken legs in this tutorial, but you would use the same methods for canning chicken thighs and wings as well. There are […]

Every year we buy a quarter of a cow from a farmer friend of ours, which comes up to about 100 lbs of meat. It usually keeps our family of 6 stocked for around 10 months. Initially we store all of that beef in a large deep freezer, but as the seasons progress I need […]

Meat is one of those things that people tend to be the most scared to try canning. Food poisoning can be a very serious matter. I don’t blame anyone who approaches preserving meats with trepidation. I was the same way when I first started canning! My biggest fear was that I would do something wrong […]